You sir, have officially sparked the money neurons in my brain :-) Thanks for that.
Barter is the back bone of all functioning socioeconomic environments. Now it lies dormant (not dead) as we prefer to use tokens for the sake convenience.
In my mind these tokens have to two important components - first is the promise of value associated to it and secondly a legally binding agreement for it's universal acceptance. While the social behavior and choices determine the associated value, the legal guarantee of it's acceptance is provided by the political leadership.
It is my firm belief that what we lack today is the idea of store of value. Apart from Precious metals I find that everything tied to the modern banking system is based on trust in a system that has failed us too many times.
I am not talking about radical decision making here. What I am talking about is very a serious consideration into what we think of as money today - does it has the potential to safely store the value we put in it. Apart from blind trust of people, fiat holds no promise to me.
Well said. I have noticed that value is subjective. It depends on the applicable utility of a good. And fluctuates across time. Uranium may have value now - although it likely had little only 100 years ago.
An interesting question is: what is valuable in an information economy? A strong case can be made that the most valuable assets in such an environment are: information (clearly), connections, and networks. Perhaps it is unsurprising that businesses that deal in these areas are experiencing tremendous growth (facebook, linkedin, google).
This is interesting because it may offer each individual an opportunity to build value in previous impossible ways. Building stronger communities can create wealth not just for the initiator but eventually for the entire community.
My understanding is that historically information has been the currency of kings while the gold is the currency of rich and labor the currency of poor.
The group harnessing that power of information holds more favorable cards (as you state in you reply). Historically it has been the job of scholars to bring that power from the elite to the masses. To create a bridge, if you will, so that a healthy society flourishes.
That seems a wise statement. If true then scholars hold a deeply meaningful status in our society. For without knowledge we will surely run off course.